Innovation

Ask any person walking with a cell phone who Steve Jobs is and they’ll tell you. They wait in line for hours to buy the next IPhone. They hear smartphone and IPhone is the image that comes to mind. Steve Jobs left the world with a product that is now a part of every day life.

Most people are aware of his innovative approach to technology, business and how he made people better. I find Steve Jobs to be one of those most influential, inspiring and innovative people in this generation. I have listened to Steve Job’s Crazy Ones speech at least 500 times. It gives me purpose. It inspires me. It opens possibilities that we are all better than we allow ourselves to be.

As a leadership enthusiast, I want to point out some of my favorite quotes from Jobs that have inspired me to be a better leader. We need to understand that Steve wasn’t just a brilliant innovator, but he was also a leader.

“What leadership is is having a vision and being able to articulate that so that the people around you can understand it.” – Steve Jobs

If anyone is going to make that first step into leading, they MUST have vision. Leaders must know where they’re taking their team. Leading people implies we are going somewhere. Leading implies we have a goal/objective to accomplish. Leaders must create a vision to accomplish that goal. Call it a plan, a path, an idea, but communicate it in such a way that your team can see what you see. Communicate that vision clearly, concise and easy enough for their followers/team to understand. It’s one thing to know, it’s another to understand. When we understand things, we get the full spectrum of what it is we’re about to do. Thus, a leader must paint a vision so that their team can see it too.

“My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to make them better.” – Steve Jobs

Leaders invest in people. That’s what they do naturally. They make people better. Steve Jobs nails it. A leader’s job isn’t to be easy on people, it’s to make them better. If we’re going to invest in people, let’s make it count for them. A leader must be honest with their team. If a team member needs a wake up call, hold them accountable to the values and standards that are set in place. It’s a leader’s job to coach, mentor and guide their team members to not only be better, but do better and know better. Don’t forget that a leader focuses on people. They are in a way, our soul purpose for being a leader. We don’t just want to make them better, but also want to make them leaders.

Leaders want to know that what they’re doing is working. They want to know that their leadership is effective. They want to know that their vision is being carried out and that progress is being made. There is only one way to check how you and your team is doing and that’s by stopping to assess where the team is and how they have been performing. You can’t look forward to see that, you must look behind you to see how far the team has gone. Looking back provides an opportunity to grow from your experience, the failure, the perseverance, the challenges you’ve faced and so on. It’s important that we look back to connect the dots, but don’t forget that more dots need to be made. Don’t focus too much on the past, but look to the future. Leading is about where we’re going, but we must learn and progress from where we’ve been.

“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.” – Steve Jobs

Think from the follower’s perspective. Followers want amazing leaders leading them. Leaders must be that quality that followers are looking for. I’ll say this in the nicest way, but followers don’t need a half-ass leader. They need someone who is of the utmost quality. The quality of the leaders depends on the follower’s development, progress and effectiveness. Leaders will always have a high standards of excellence for their team and their work environment. A leader cares about how things are done. They expect high quality results. They expect high quality performance. As a follower, be selective on who you follow. Who you follow is not only important for the objectives and goals, but also important for the followers. A leader will raise the bar for the benefit of their followers. They see your potential and will ensure that you are growing to meet it.

“Innovation distinguishes between and leader and a follower.” – Steve Jobs

This may be one of those most recognized quotes from Steve Jobs. Some people have yet to understand the correlation between innovation and leadership, but it’s quite simple. Innovation isn’t just an action, but being innovative is seeing outside the box. Like innovators, leaders also see outside the box. Leadership and innovation are actions of a decision to not accept the normality of how people and products are grown. Leaders see around corners in ways that others don’t see. They are strategic, they are creative, they are risk takers and they certainly don’t fear failure. It’s very important for leaders to see things in ways other people don’t. A leader isn’t a leader because they have all the answers; a leader is a leader because if they don’t know an answer, they find or create their own solution to any challenge or issue.